Catherine Smith Mills, a new Republican candidate for Cincinnati City Council, is raising eyebrows with her campaigning.

Mills held a fundraiser April 8 that featured former Police Chief Thomas Streicher Jr. as the keynote speaker. In a press release touting the event, Mills is quoted as saying, “As a first time candidate, I am so lucky to have the support and mentorship of Republican leaders in Cincinnati like Tom Streicher.”

By no measure can The Wall Street Journal be mistaken for a liberal newspaper, so the findings of its latest poll should greatly disturb Republicans.

A poll released late last week, done in conjunction with NBC News, found that most Americans support collective bargaining rights for workers, want to end the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthyandimpose a surtax on people making more than $1 million annually, and believe economic growth is a higher priority for government than deficit reduction.

Here's a bit of news that should spoil the day for Sarah Palin, Mike Wilson, Dusty Rhodes and their ilk: A comparison of two polls suggests that socialism is more popular among Americans than the Tea Party movement.

A new, wide-rangingWashington Post-ABC News poll reveals that 35 percent of respondents had a favorable view of the Tea Party, compared to 36 percent that likes socialism in an earlier Gallup poll. Fifty-two percentof Americans now hold unfavorable views of the Tea Party, which is an all-time high.

After the tragic shootings Saturday in Arizona involving a U.S. congresswoman and a federal judge, some progressive commentators were quick to note the heated rhetoric and provocative imagery used by Sarah Palin's political action committee (PAC), with many blaming it for helping incite violence.

In the increasingly odd race for Ohio auditor, two local Republicans are making headlines around the state. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters sent a nasty letter to the Tea Party's auditor candidate while County Sheriff Simon Leis Jr. defended the Democratic candidate from a GOP attack.

That's how long it has been sinceCityBeate-mailed Mike Wilson, a Republican candidate and Cincinnati Tea Party leader, to learn why he skipped a planned appearance at a candidates' forum Wednesday night in Forest Park. So far, we've received no reply.

It's gone now, but the buzz about it at City Hall and in political circles still is ongoing.

An e-mail circulated this week — presumably among conservative Republicans — referenced the Wikipedia entry for Cincinnati City Hall, which had been changed to include a lie about Congressman Steve Driehaus, a Democrat, implying he was anti-Christian.

The not very funny but very hateful item was written by conservative radio talk show host Mark Williams, who was angered by the NAACP's resolution asking the political movement to denounce and expel its racist elements.